What if chapter 4
by Kabaneri
Summary: What if Allen met someone else instead of Mana? Another secret world fiction. If you want a continuation review. I'll think about it. Chapter 5 of the series is up.


**What if Allen Walker never met Mana?**

"speech"

'thoughts'

 **author notes and comments**

s===================================s

It was early autumn in a small town in England. It was quite chilly and moisty, although it was close to 17:00, thanks to the usual weather on the island. In a side alley, near the trashcans a small five year old boy was huddled, shivering, hungry, scared and most importantly alone. He was desperately trying to gather courage to come out of the cold alley, you see...his left arm waas ugly and deformed, that arm was also the reason he was abandoned. He was beaten, hated and eventually chased away from his home. He had somehow managed to reach this town but it wasn't much better than before. He couldn't find work, no one wanting a 'street rat' to work at their place, nor help in others in similar predicaments as him, even other homeless turned away after seeing his deformed arm, fearing of a curse or some sickness.

'Why does everyone hate me?! I haven't done anything to them. It's always because of this stupid arm!' he hit his left arm with anger but the thing, like always, stayed stiff and unfeeling 'I wish I didn't have this arm! Even life with one hand is better! I can't use my left anyway! At least then I won't be treated like a monster.'

He clenched his fist in anger, tears on the verge of spilling again. He was about to stand up and get out of the alley when he heard rustling of cloth and light scraping sound. He barely had time to turn around when...

 **CRAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!**

Something crashed in the pile of garbage behind him. He jumped in fright and almost eeped. Squinting, he saw a human arm sticking out. He slowly crept towards to check if the person was dead or alive when suddenly the arm started to twitch. Finally with a loud "PuhAAAA!" the person that fell, came out of the pile. The person wore a gray, open cloak with a hood that covered the top of their face. They wore red shirt with a blue ribbon loosely tied aroun the neck, black leather gloves, a pair of large dark-brown boots and work pants. The person shook like a dog would and the hood had somehow stayed on the head miraculously.

"O! I didn't notice you!"

'Judging by the voice, it's a girl.'

She lowered her hood to reveal a pale face, very dark-brown eyes (almost black) with almost unnoticable rings under them and shaggy black hair that oddly suited the girl. It stuck in all directions but at the same time it looked styled, a part of it even stuck up like a pair of cat ears.

"Are you OK? I didn't startle you too much, right?" -she asked kindly, while tilting her head.

"Y-yeah. I'm fine. Thanks for your concern miss."

"Oh!" she caught a glimpse of his hand "What is this?"

He tried to hide it but she was not only faster but stronger. She forcefully pulled his hand in plain view.

'Oh, NO! She will also hate me! And she was so nice untill now. A bit strange, but still better than most. She'll probably scream or hit me.' -he winced and closed his eyes in wait but a hit never came.

"WOW! Lol! This is soo cool! I've never seen such a thing like your hand in person!" - she was beaming while playing with his fingers.

"Yyou're not angry or aafraid?" - he asked meekly.

"Of course I'm not! Why would I be?! I thought you would know me better than this! AH! I just remembered! This is our first time meeting! Sorry for trying to scold you." - she said quickly.

To say he was amazed would be an understatement. Her face changed from 'I'm hurt' to angry to surprized to apologetic in the span of less than 10 seconds.

"Nno! It's fine." - he managed to say and tried to take his hand out of her vice grasp. He had no luck in it.

"It's good then. Tell me, boy, what are you doing here? Your clothes aren't as bad as those that had lived on the street for a long time, you had been recently abandoned, haven't you?"

Her question hit the mark. He shrunk under her stare and looked down in shame.

"Yes...I was..." - he whispered.

"What? Say it louder!"

"Yes! I was abandoned! They left me because of this arm! Everything is because of it! I hate how people ar always afraid, angry or disgusted by it! It's not my fault I was born like that!" - he gasped and clamped a hand on his mouth.

'How can I be so stupid?! I said so much to a person I just met!'

He glanced at her and saw her grinning like there was no tommorrow.

"Bahaha! I like ya kid!" -she finally let his hand go and stood up.

He just noticed he stood a bit below her chest. As she looked down at him and their eyes met, she suddenly asked a question that would change history.

"You have a lot of guts and character hidden that weak husk of yours! I like your energy, kid! Would you like to come with me? We'll have a blast together, I 'now it!" - she smiled and extended her hand at him.

He looked doubtfully. Usually no one would want to touch him after they saw his hand but she was different. She not only held his hand but neither hit him, nor got disgusted or scared, in fact she wanted to touch him. To take HIM with her! A strange feeling appered in his chest, a feeling that told him he would be safe with her. He then grabbed her hand and shook it.

"I agree! My name is Allen by the way. I don't like my _family's_ last name, so I don't have one. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too Al-chan!" the atmosphere suddenly became heavier and Allen felt a bit of fear "My name is Clemantine von Dreyven..." at this moment she looked at him with eyes that were like black holes, ready to suck him in and not leave a trace he even existed "I'm an escaped asylum patient, psycho professionale, master assassin, a magician, master chef, pizza lover and many others that would take too much time to tell you."

The mood had returned to the previous with the slight worry in Allen's chest. He was a bit afraid of her now.

"Ah! But most importantly...I'm a monster hunter!" - she proclaimed like it was some sort of a honor to be one.

'Is she for real?' - he gave her a funny look.

"Hey! It's true! It's a job that protects people from danger and potential death! One of it's better points is you can control the population by letting monsters roam around for a while! Now, come! It's not safe to talk here! Some of the evil guys may be using gremlins or nightstalkers to try and spy on us for information!"

She quickly whisked him up, put one of her gloves on his deformed hand, wrapped her cloak around him (making shure the hood hid him and ran out of the alley. She arrived to the closest inn and rented a room with two beds for the night. As soon as she got in, she locked the door, windows and pulled the curtains shut.

"Whew! We're safe now. Now, we can talk more freely!"

"What was all this about?" - Allen asked worriedly.

"This is in case we were spied on by some monsters. Give me my cloak please."

He did so and she pulled out a few jars full of glowing liquid that lit the dark room in beautiful blue, green and yellow.

'How did she fit them in? More importantly, how didn't they break?! There's not even a crack!'

"Well, it's really simple. This cloak is a legendary item that can hold an almost infinite amount of items, as long as they fit in the pockets!"

"How? Don't tell me you car read my mind!"

"I can read almost anyone's mind! But I don't do it. Your expression told me everything! A good monster hunter should be able to read the meaning behind every expression, be it real or fake, in order to survive in these corrupted lands! Now, you probably want an explanation."

"Yes, why did you want me? No one ever wanted me."

"I told you in the street, didn't I? I like you and I think you have a potential to become someone great! Also, because of your hand." Allen pulled his left arm behind his back. "You may hane realized it by now but that arm is not normal, it's not something that is natural."

"What do you mean?" - he was confused by her words.

"That **thing** in your hand, the cross embedded on top of it, is a... umm. How did the normies from the Black saucer call it again? Oh, a 'Crystal of god/Innocence' ( **she air quoted this part** ) but you should NEVER believe this crap!" she shouted the last part "It's something evil that seeps the energy of the human it's connected to! It can even shorten a person's lifespan! Not to mantion when IT is not satisfied with its host, it will take over their bodies, turning them in raging monsters of mass destruction! I've seen one such person before, it wasn't pretty. The person was constantly screaming and crying as the thing used his body and sucked his life dry!"

Now Allen was scared. He didn't want to believe her but his gut told him she was right and wasn't lying. Was he going to turn in such a thing?

"I-I don't want to become a monster! Can you help me?" - he begged her while crying.

"Of course I can! I'm the greatest monster hunter after all, but first I want to warn you. The procedure is quite painfull and some have died. Currently your body is too weak and won't be able to handle it. However, I'm going to train you and toughen you up. Do you think you'll be able to handle my intence training, once you start, I won't let you quit."

"I will do anything! So, please help me remove that thing from my hand!"

"Good! We'll start tomorrow! Now, let me explain you some things you would need to know before traveling with me." she took her shoes off and started walking around the room while mumbling something "haspaffs nnfkfarromiins - Mutica bubla! Now, no one would be able to eavesdrop on us!"

She sat on the bed in front of Allen and stared talking.

"You see...I'm actually wanted asylum escapee in London. They thought I was crazy and dangerous but that's not true, I'm not crary! I was fighting an Akuma that was going to attack when I noticed him. I saved lives but when I told them about the Akuma they called me crary and threw me in the asylum. Ah, Akuma are weapons made from corpses and dead souls, they are made by the creepy purple marshmallow elf or the Millenium Earl. He tricks people and uses their corpsed as some sort of a costume for his weapons. That one hadn't transformed, yet, so they thought I attacked a civilian without a reason! I escaped the same night and haven't returned there for the past two years, they still are looking for me. Next, about my job as a monster hunter, it is something a few people have heard about. My job is to stop evil, dangerous or rampaging monsters and other such species from harming civilians. I either kill, seal them in an artefact, sent them to monster prison or back home, depending on why they were causing trouble. Got any questions?"

"Yes, why are we hiding right now?"

"Because sometimes evil monsters or organisations would send spies after me. I didn't want them to know about you before you were safe and could somewhat be prepared. Especially after seeing the seal placed on you. You must have had a LOT of power for it to have been sealed with that cursed shard and still have some of it leaking out from time to time."

"What seal?! What power are you talking about?"

"Oh, the 'Innocence' in your arm acts like a seal for your real powers. It prevents you from achieving your TRUE potential! When I remove it and unlock your real powers, I'll train you in how to use them! I currently don't have the slightest idea what your powers are pecause of the seal but I'll do my best in finding the best training method! Now, I believe it's been long enough for tonight. After we leave tomorrow, we'll talk more on the way. Let's go down and eat! I bet yer hungry as hell with _that leech_ on you."

He nodded, stood up from the bed and followed his new cloaked friend downstairs.

They sat on a table in the corner and ordered their food. Clemantine was having milk, baked sweet potatos with cheese, a steak and a bowl of fruit. Allen was having the same with some beef stew, black pudding and pie.

"Why do you always wear that cloak? Aren't you hot?" - Allen asked thile eating.

"No, it has special magic that makes it comfortable to wear in any weather, even if it was 100 degrees hotter I would feel like it's still 23 degrees, it also acts lika an armor, moreover it's tain and dirt-proof! it never gets dirty!" - she answered and stuffed a whole potato in her mouth.

After dinner they went back to their room and prepared for sleep.

"Tomorrow I'm going to buy you some new clothes and some gloves to hide your arm and keep you warm. Do you like to wear skarves Al-chan?"

"I don't know. I haven't wore one."

"Seriously? You're like what 4-5 yrs old! How could you have never worn one?!"

"My parents never liked me and also, I'm not that youd, probably."

"You tell me this while not knowing your own birthday? Wow!" - she layed down in the bed. There was only one of the glowing jars on her nightstand right now, the rest were but in her cloak. Allen looked down, he was sad he didn't even know his birthday. Clemantine looked at him and a lightbulb lit up above her head.

"Then, why don't I give you one? Let's see... how about 14th December?"

"mmmm...I think it's good but why that date?"

"Because September is the start of school and I wouldn't like to party right then, exams and all those pointless stuff. October is also a no-no, Halloween is then and people tend to have wrong ideas when you tell them you are born around Halloween, the beginning of the moth is also rainy and bleak, so again no. November is the month of colds and viruses, you know, their last attack before winter comes and they become less active. That leaves December. After 10th all the viruses are usually gone and it's fine to throw a party! Christmass also comes so, it's a prfect and cheerfull time! Also if you want more presents, it's better to not have your birthday after 18th December, so yours will be on the 14th!''

Allen thought about it, smiled and nodded. He then laid down in his bed.

"Good night."

"Good night Al-chan!"

She covered the jar with a thick cloth and he soon fell asleep.

Around midnight Clemantine opened her eyes suddenly. She got up, quickly dressed herself and went out of the window. Before jumping down, she murmured again and a soft red glow came out of her fingertips, covering their room in a protective bubble. After making shure Allen was safe, she closed the window and jumped. She lightly landed on the rooftop of the building across the street, after that she continues to house-jump towards a certain place. She reached a small shack near the end of the town. She pulled her hood down and broke the door with a kick. Inside was a woman, she was crying and struggling, when she saw her, the woman tried t shout but some 'invisible' force was stopping her. While most people wouldn't be able to see them, she could, there were two monsters holding the woman. They were at least 3 metres tall, had muscular limbs, beer bellies, no visible ears, large maws and nostrills, their feet looked like frog's and had short tails, the only difference between them was their color. One was blue on yellow opolkas while the other was purple on green polkas. They turned towards her and growled.

"Who are you? How dare you interrupt our fum?!" (purple)

"Yeah, now we'll eat you too!" (blue)

Clemantine smirked, crossed her arms and casually started to talk.

"The Graggle brothers, heh! You had caused quite a bit of trouble recently. With all those victims across Great Britain." this alarmed them, she could not only see them but knew who they were "Who knew I would have the 'honor' to meet you here!" - she opened her arms wide and flashed an evil smile.

"Ddon't tell me...You are a hunter!" - the purple one roared.

They let the woman and faced Clemantine. The poor woman ran out in fright to save her life and disappeared somewhere. The brothers lunged at Clemantine and slashed her to pieces but there was no blood. Suddenly they realized it was an afterimage. She appeared behind the blue one, whacked him with her hand and sent him flying into the wall, after that she tool a strange gun-like contraption and shot a few chain talismans at him, restraining him there.

'How did she...?!' - the purple one thought.

"Dieee!" - he lunged at her with his claws ready to rip her apart but he was stopped by a boot in the face. She had kicked one of her oversized boots at him but the boot felt more like a lead weight rather than a leathery shoe. In fact her boots had multiple charms on them, one of them made them super tough and hard while another one made them very heavy. Currently her boots weighted 100 kilos each! The purple monster was shocked and lost his balance. He fell on his back, she jumped in the air and drove the heel of her other boot in his stomach. Whith a gross squelch he fainted and started foaming from the mouth. She then put a few chain talismans on him too. She put the gun back in her cloak and pilled out two metal bells, she tied them togethed with a red string, she pointed each bell towards one of the brothers. The bells glowed and sucked the brothers in, now all she had to do was to give them to the monster authorities, or the MA, and get the bounty put on their heads, there was even a bonus for caturing them both at once! She put the bells in her right breast pocked and patted it with satisfaction.

 **Wonder why she used metal bells? It's because she's smart, unlike the fools that use crystal balls, porcelain jars/pots or glass bells that can easyly break and release the captured monsters. She even put a few protection layers and passwords, so that no one but her could release them.**

She then returned to the inn and went to sleep.

===Meanwhile in the town's police station===

A woman, all bruised up, her hair and clothes a real mess burst through the door. She panted and fell on her knees.

"Miss! What happened? Are you fine?" - one of the policemen asked her.

"h-help! Help me! I was attacked and then dragged to the abandoned shack at north-west Thornton! They will come for me! Save me!"

"Calm down! Tell us who did it and what happened."

"I don't know! I couldn't see them! It was like they were invisible! I only heard some voices, then a weird thing broke the door and I escaped! All I could hear after were some roars and booms!"

"Ok, we'll see what can be done."

He left her on one of the benches and went to the phone. he dialed a number and called.

"...Yes, we'll need some doctors to check her and maybe a psychologist to check on her. She's rambling about ghosts and moving shadows non-stop! Yes, thank you."

===The next morning===

Allen woke up from a verry good dream, probably the best he ever had. He stood on a hill, looking over the beautiful landscape down below. He had felt a hand on his shoulder, he turned around and saw Clemantine and a group of other people standing behind him. Although the other people still had no faces, he knew they were there for him, that they cared for him. He smiled at them and then the dream ended. A ray of sunlight had managed to squeeze through the curtains and had shined right at his face. He woke up with a groan and rubbed his eyes tiredly. He looked around and took a moment to remember all the events from the previous day. He looked at Clemantine's bed and saw her sleeping on the grownd.

"Hey, wake up." - he gently shook her.

She woke up and stretched, her back popping.

"Mornig Al-chan! Did you sleep well?"

"Yes, I did. And you?"

"Well, after a good fight with monsters everyone will sleep well! Lets go down and eat! We'll be leaving soon. Make shure you don't forget anything here!"

She put the matress back on the bed along with the blaknets, put the glowing jar in her pocket and opened the curtains.

"Why are you so calm? Aren't you afraid they will be spying on us?" - Allen joked.

"No, the scent of monsters I smelled here was caused by the Graggle brothers! It wasn't because of spies! I dealt with them last night and they won't be causing any more trouble!" - she happyly said as she put her boots on.

"Wow? Where are they then?"

"Oh, I captured them." she patted her right breastpocket "Do you want to see something cool?"

"Yes. What is it?" - he asked excitedly, he was still a kid after all.

She put her hand in a pocket on the inside of the coat and pulled a string with a lot of colorfull beads, feathers and a strange empty space. Allen could swear that if he concentrated, he could faintly see something that looked like a transperant tooth or something.

'I knew it! Although sealed, he can still see glimpses of the truth!' - she smiled.

"Tis here is a protection necklace. It has many sacred beads, feathers of birds and a fang of a direwolf cub. Taken after it changed its milk teeth, this is one of the cannies! I had to stalk the pack for two weeks before the tooth fell." - she said proudly.

"Cool! Where do they live?" - he asked while carefully felt the smooth tooth.

"They always move around but they were at the Neverglennd forest when I got this fang. Here, put it around your neck. It will protect you and will make it easier for me to find you. It has a trace on it in case I loose it." she gave it to him and did as told.

They checked if they left anything behind and went down to have breakfast. Clemantine returned the key and ordered five portions of the traditional english breakfast.

"Where are we going now?" (Allen)

"I caught the Graggle brothers and I can leave the country and go to other places. The reason I came to England was because I heard they were spotted here. I was in London precisely because I heard they were there. Sigh...In the end they were gone and I had to deal with an Akuma and the police. But finallu I caught then and will get the bounty! After I remove your seal and train you, you will also be able to catch monsters. We can even become a duo. Think about it - The Unstopables! How does that soun?"

"It sounds good but please don't say that name again. I'll leave if you call our team like that."

"OK! Fine! I won't." - she pouted and sipped some orange juice.

They soon exited the inn and started walking towards the market. There she bought different clothes for him and a pair of gloves.

"Ah, L. Misteltein! I missed you!" - she kissed and rubbed the glove Allen returned.

"So, Clemantine, you call me Al-chan- a nickname, right? How should I call you? Clemantine or someting else?"

"Hmmm...Everyone calls me An-san, because face it Man-san, Cle-san and Tine-sen don't sound well, do they? So, call me An-san when we're together, but when we train you have to call me An-sensei or else I'll whack you untill you reach China! **Got it?** " - she got scary again and looked at him with the black hole eyes.

"Yes! I got it!" - he saluted instinctively.

"Good! Now, lets leave this town! We'll head towards the nearest harbor. We'll board a ship and go to France. I have to hand the brothers to the authorities. I would have done it in London but I'm wanted there, so we'll go to the Franchesse point. Ah, don't worry! It's close to the harbor where our ship will leave us!"

She assured him and lead him. He looked back once and followed her.

"Don't worry. As long as you never give up and always look forward with a smile, everything would be fine! As long as you try your hardest, you shouldn't be sorry!" - she assured him.

He would leave England in a few days, he would never be found by those thugs and be sold to the circus for alcohol money and he would never meet Mana. He won't meet the Earl and general Cross, nor learn how to use his Innocence. He would become a different, yet the same kind and caring person. He'll become Allen Winters, a magical expert, second strongest monster hunter and the 14th's new host.

===1 year later===

"Al-chan! It's time! Are you ready?" (Clemantine)

"I'm coming An-sensei!"

In the middle of a yard in front of a small eastern temple a 6 and a half year old Allen had been making push-ups on two fingers using only one hand, his other one behind his back. He had developed quite well during the past year. Almost no other 6 year old had a six-pack and such clear muscles. He was finishing his noon training set when Clemantine called him. He was both excited and nervous. Today she said she would remove the thing in his hand. He got in the ritual chamber and saw a huge circle drawn on the floor.

"Just strip to your underwear and go lie in the middle." (An)

 **It's too much to always write Clemantine, so I'm using the An from An-sensei from now on.**

He did as instructed and laid down on the cold stone floor.

"Spread your left hand to the side, keep your other hand as close to the body as you can!"

He did so and waited nervously. Suddenly she did a few movements and he was bound in this position by something. He could feel it on his skin but couldn't see anything.

"I'm sorry but it's necesarry. Removing a seal imbedded in your own body is quite painful, so I'm binding you in order to not try and run away. Just clench your teeth and try to bear with it."

She then started to chant and hellish pain raced through his whole being but he clenched his teeth and screamed silently. It felt like some sort of roots were extracted from the left side of his body. He felt his palm burn like it was lit on fire. It felt like ages for him but it eventually the pain stopped and he was released. His hair had become snow white because of the extreme pain but he was glad he was alive. He weakly lifted his left arm in front of his face. There, on top of his hand was a cross-shaped hole that would probably leave a scar for life, but most importantly, his hand started to look normal. The red scab-like tissue had cracked and was falling piece by piece, revealing healthy white skin.

"Congrats, Al-chan! Your powers had been freed! Now, lets deal with this thing."

She took out a bat and hit the Innocence so hard it flew high in the sky and disappeared. After that day Allen started to see the 'true world' , how An had called it. He understood not many people could see it, well...people who were from this world at least. After the border between this world and the monster world aka Norsfald, had opened monsters had started to come here. More than 99.9% of the population couldn't see them, so monster hunters from other world took shifts to patrol and look for criminals and dangerous monsters. Aparently even the Earl and the Noah couldn't see the monsters, even though they were also magical. An trained him and he became fluent in using his powers, he even talked with the 14th's memories and became quite friendly with the 14th. The 14th, or Neah, was impressed by how well and in how many different ways Allen could use both his Noah and not Noah powers. He even made shure to remember them if he needed to reincarnate in another person, not that he believed someone would be able to take Allen and Clemantine out, but better safe than sorry. He learned his lesson. Aparently Neah also couldn't see the monsters on his own, he could see them only by looking through Allen's memories. Allen would even allow the ex-14th to 'stretch his legs' and take over his body for a while, under the condition he asked beforehand or it was an emergency. Life continued peacefully like that, as peacefull as the life of a monster hunter can be, untill a day after Allen's 15 birthday when Clemantine recieved a message about an escaped criminal. A dopelgander named Cranks Dorean. He had managed to sneak through one of the inter-world prtal. He had arrived in England and they wanted evryne avaliable to go there. They were currently in Germany, so they were called. They boarded one of the emergency flying boats and flew as fast as possible towards England.

They searched for quite a while but couldn't find any cluse in London. Yes, they forgot about her after more than 10 years. They decided to board a train and travel to a new place, however when they were searching for theis compartment, they quite literally bumped into some of the Black Order's exorcists. They were Kanda and Leenalee.

What would happen now that they met the exorcists they had been trying to avoid for the past decade or so? Well, that's a story for another time.

 **You may be wondering how old exactly is Clemantine? Well, she can change her appearance and age to match her taste but she has been alive for more than a century for shure. No one knows this yet but I plan to have someone find her secret if there's a continuation to this chapter.**


End file.
